Theme of World Mental Health Day 2018 : "young people and mental health in a changing world"

Japan's passport has been named the most powerful in the world, overtaking Singapore, according to the recently released Henley Passport Index 2018.

Singapore is now at the 2nd place in the Index.

Germany, South Korea and France jointly stood at the 3rd spot.

Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden and Spain all came in joint-4th.

United States and the United Kingdom are at the 5th position of the index.

Important Note : The Indian passport has secured the 81st rank in the Index.

National Current Affairs

The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh for a very severe cyclone named 'Titli', which are expected to hit the states on October 11.

India’s first ever National Environment Survey (NES) will be kicked off in January, 2019 to map environment data of 55 districts across 24 states and 3 Union Territories.

The NES will rank all districts on their environmental performance and document their best green practices based on various environmental parameters.

The earliest first set of complete green data from this survey will be available in 2020.

To provide health information to users, including first-aid and other health and nutritional topics, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched a mobile health app tot;ed ‘MedWatch’.

It is first of its kind mobile health app built by any of the three armed forces.

To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and honour of his service to humanity, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has launched India for Humanity initiative.

It will feature year-long series of artificial limb fitment camps in a number of countries spanning globe.

It focuses on Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of compassion, caring and service to humanity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled a 64-foot-tall statue of peasant leader Sir Chhotu Ramat his native village Sampla in Rohtak district of Haryana.

The statue has been sculpted by renowned sculptor and Padma Bhushan-recipient Ram Vanji Sutar.

Around 5,500 farmers from Haryana had donated iron metal, ranging from from half-a-kg to two kgs for construction of the statue.

Books & Authors

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor today announced his latest book titled 'The Paradoxical Prime Minister', describing it as more than just a 400-page exercise in "floccinaucinihilipilification" on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Meaning of 'floccinaucinihilipilification' : the action or habit of estimating something as worthless.

Deaths

Singer Nitin Bali (47) passed away.

He is known for his remix versions of 'Neele Neele Ambar' and 'Ek Ajnabee Haseena Se'.

New Appointments

The government has appointed senior advocate Tushar Mehta as the Solicitor General of India.

This post is the second-highest ranking law officer in India.

Tushar is going to replace Ranjit Kumar who resigned on 20th Otober 2017.

Lieutenant General Asim Munir has been appointed as the new chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

He replaces Naveed Mukhtar who assumed the office of the Inter-Services Intelligence chief in December 2016.

UK PM Theresa May has appointed the country's first minister for suicide prevention, handing over the new role to mental health minister Jackie Doyle-Price.

This comes as the UK hosts a global mental health summit.

Note : Around 4,500 people take their lives every year in England and suicide remains the leading cause of death among men under the age of 45.

The PM Narendra Modi government has decided National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will replace Cabinet Secretary as the head of the Strategic Policy Group (SPG).

First notified in 1999 to assist the National Security Council (NSC), the SPG, which was a 16-member body, will now be an 18-member body.